Rom-com cynicism

On last night’s inter-continental flight, I finally made it through the perfect US-expat-in-UK movie, “The Holiday.” Brief plot summary: a cultural exchange takes place between two stereotypes (Kate Winslet as the English Rose and Cameron Diaz as the ultimate California girl) when they switch houses for two weeks to get a break from romantic troubles at home. New romances inevitably devlop.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I like Kate Winslet, who is rather unapologetic about her non-waif figure (for an even more blatant display of gorgeous real-woman curves, see Tony award-winning actress and Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez in her milk add). The story line with Kate Winslet’s character and an elderly neighbor in her borrowed LA neighborhood was incredibly sweet, and played to my love of 1940s classic film.

I’m less a fan of Cameron Diaz in general, and found her quite unbelievable as a sympathetic lead in this movie. (She was an awesome and utterly believable bad-girl in Ed Burns’s She’s the One.) I live in England and have never had the great pleasure of an emotionally-available man with Jude Law’s charm and good looks appearing uninvited at my place, but it makes good fodder for fantasy. However, I with my thirty-something post-divorce cynicism appear to have lost my ability to fully enjoy rom-com romps.

When Jude Law’s character declares his love for Cameron Diaz’s character less than two weeks after meeting her, I rolled my eyes and just about didn’t make it through the rest of the movie out of disgust. Even one of my all-time favorite fairy tales, Disney’s Little Mermaid, had me a bit uncomfortable a few weeks ago. I appear to have lost my ability to believe in any story line that involves “fall-in-love-and-live-happily-ever-after” plots that develop over the course of days or weeks.

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12 responses to “Rom-com cynicism”

My dear cousin,
I think this is proof that it is time to seriously re-evaluate your life. Once you’ve lost the ability to simply lose yourself in the cinematic perfection of romantic comedies, there’s little hope for you. Next you’re going to tell me that the story line of When Harry Met Sally is unbelievable! Continue this train of thought and you’ll have to turn in your girl card. Now go watch Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail and see if you can’t regain your senses. If you must, you can substitute a Bridget Jones movie.

A point of clarification: I adore “When Harry Met Sally” and do not consider that film in the same genre about which I was ranting here; the Harry-Sally relationship developed over the course of 12 years! The contrast with the silly fodder of “Sleepless in Seattle” (in which they don’t meet until the end of the movie and have insta-magic-love) is the real problem.

Ok, just to re-cap, your cousin thinks you may have over-analyzed a movie and you came back with a scientific quiz to prove that you don’t think like a woman? Long story short, you’re trying to create depth where none exists purposely. Exactly the point of a romantic comedy. Not unlike many of the books you’ve talked about…… Of course none of that would ever happen. It’s a movie!